site.btaProtesting Taxi Drivers Lay Out Demands to President's Secretary for Economy and Investments

Protesting taxi drivers met with the President's Secretary for Economy and Investments Hristo Alexiev, the presidential press secretariat reported on Monday. The goal of the talks was to have the drivers outline their demands and expectations for legislative changes regarding the substantial increase in the mandatory third-party liability insurance.

Earlier Monday, Snezhana Nikova, head of the Burgas chapter of the Branch Chamber of Taxi Drivers and Operators, said that taxi drivers will rally in Sofia on December 20.

On December 3, Volodya Domashenko, co-chair of the National Association for the Protection of Carriers and Taxi Drivers, said the protests will continue. He explained that although taxi companies managed to negotiate a significantly smaller increase in mandatory third-party liability insurance with some of the insurers, drivers still find the prices too high.

The association National Taxi Trade told BTA in late November that taxi drivers demand a price cap on the price of compulsory third-party liability insurance until a clear legal mechanism is developed, through the insurance code, to introduce the bonus-malus system and assess the risk of each driver based on their individual performance.